Here are some treats you can make to celebrate this month of romantic love, three easy recipes for those with a sweet tooth.
Salted Caramel thumbprint cookies
Ingredients:
•For the cookies:
•120 g salted butter – soft
•180 ml brown sugar
•60 ml almond flour
•30 ml vanilla essence
•430 ml cake flour
•For the salted caramel:
•250 ml brown sugar
•125 ml cream
•70 g salted butter – diced
•5 ml vanilla essence
•Pinch of salt
•To serve:
•1 tsp Maldon salt
•18 edible flowers
Method:
For the cookies, line two baking trays with baking paper.
Combine the butter, sugar and almond flour and whisk in an electric mixer until light and fluffy for three minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the vanilla essence and flour.
Using your hands, roll the mixture into 18 balls (about 1½ tbsp each) and arrange on the lined trays.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
Make an indent into each cookie with your thumb, leaving a 2 cm deep hole without pressing all the way through the base of the cookie.
Bake until golden, 12-15 minutes.
Widen and deepen the hollows of each cookie with the base of a wooden spoon as soon as the cookies come out of the oven.
Leave the cookies on the trays for 15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool.
For the caramel combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.
Whisk until melted and simmer, six minutes.
Spoon the caramel into the hollows of each cookie and add a tiny sprinkling of Maldon salt on top.
Allow to cool and garnish the cookies with an edible flower each before serving.
Store in an airtight container for up to three days.
Tip: The basic thumbprint cookie can be filled with a variety of fillings, ranging from dark chocolate ganache to berry jam and peanut butter.
Foolproof buttermilk scones
Ingredients:
•375 g cake flour
•50 g white sugar
•15 g baking powder
•6 g salt
•200 g ice-cold unsalted butter, cubed
•1 egg
•1 egg yolk
•300 g buttermilk
•1 whisked egg (for wash)
•cream and strawberry jam
Method
Preheat the oven to 220 °C.
1. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Pulse once or twice to combine.
2. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture and process until it looks like fine crumbs.
3. Whisk the egg, extra yolk and buttermilk together in a separate bowl.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix by hand just until the dough comes together in a soft ball. Don’t overmix.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gather all the bits together and gently knead a few times until it comes together in a cohesive ball.
6. Press it with your fingertips into an 18 cm square of dough, about 3 cm thick, then cut into nine even-size squares with a sharp chef’s knife.
7. Put the scones slightly apart on a baking tray lined with a silicone sheet or baking paper, and brush the tops with egg wash, using a pastry brush. Leave to rest for five minutes, then brush again with egg wash.
8. Bake for 16 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and cool slightly before serving.
9. Serve with cream and jam.
Mini Cheesecakes
Ingredients:
•1 packet Marie biscuits, crushed
•30 ml sugar
•125 g butter
•3 ml cinnamon
•1 tub cream cheese, softened
•250 ml sour cream
•150 g castor sugar
•2 eggs
•10 ml vanilla
•125 ml cream
•60 ml castor sugar
•5 ml grated lemon zest
Method
Preheat oven to 180 °C.
Line 2×12 hole mini muffin tins with cupcake liners.
Combine biscuit crumbs, sugar and cinnamon.
Melt butter and add to biscuit mixture.
Spoon a rounded tablespoon into each hole of the prepared muffin tins, press firmly.
Beat softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy.
Beat in sour cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla until well blended.
Spoon mixture equally onto biscuit crust. Bake at 15-20 minutes until tops are set.
Leave cheese cakes in muffin cups and cool completely in the fridge.
Whip cream until soft peaks form, fold in sugar and lemon zest.
Pipe tiny rosettes of cream on top of the cheesecakes.
Decorate with cherries.
